Tubular magazine firearm with carrier release and latch



March 18, 1969 E. MORROW TUBULAR MAGAZINE FIREARM WITH CARRIER RELEASE AND LATCH Sheet Filed Dec. 14, 1967 INVENTO/P. EDWARDLMORROW ATTORNEY March 18. 1969 E. L. MORROW; 3,432,956

TUBULAR MAGAZINE FIREARM WITH CARRIER RELEASE AND LATCH Sheet Filed Dec. 14, 1967 INVENTORZ EDWARD L. MOP/POW wm w \M II wmw lr O x w %N \m I H 9? I x/x/ fi/n MM A) 9.

ATTORNEY March 18, 1969 E. MORROW TUBULAR MAGAZINE FIREARM WITH CARRIER RELEASE AND LATCH oft;

Sheet Filed Dec. 14, 1967 EDWARD L MO/PROW ATTORNEY N M @Q United States Patent Virginia Dec. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 690,562 7 Filed Claims Int. Cl. F4lc 11/00 US. Cl. 42-1 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE For use in a firearm of the general type having a reciprocating bolt assembly operative to flip a cartridge carrier from a cartridge-receiver position to a cartridgefeeding position, and further having latching means operative, after the last shot has been fired, by a cartridge follower disposed in a tubular cartridge magazine to engage and detain the cartridge carrier in the cartridgereceiving position and thereby detain the bolt assembly in a breech-open position, manually operable release means conveniently accessible to counteract the latching means and release the cartridge carrier and thereby the bolt assembly for further movement.

In certain types of automatic shotguns in the prior art, cartridges are fed from a tubular magazine onto an adjacent cartridge carrier which is pivotally mounted in the shotgun receiver. A bolt assembly is mounted in the receiver for reciprocating movement after each shot is fired. A pawl, or the like, is pivotally mounted on the cartridge carrier to be releasably engaged by the bolt assembly during its forward movement whereby the cartridge carrier is flipped upwadly to a cartridge-feeding position by the force transmitted from the forwardly moving bolt assembly through the pawl to the cartridge carrier. The cartridge is then picked up from the cartridge carrier by the forwardly moving bolt assembly and carried into a firing chamber contiguous with the receiver. The cartridge carrier then pivots down to its oiginal cartridge-receiving position adjacent the tubular magazine. After the last cartridge in the gun has been fired, a spring biased cartridge follower in the magazine projects therefrom into the receiver so as to latch the cartridge carrier in the cartridge-receiving position. When the cartridge carrier is thus latched, the pawl operates to latch the bolt assembly in a breech-open position.

In the prior art shotguns of this type, in order to release the cartridge carrier and the bolt assembly, one must insert a finger or thumb into a bottom opening in the receiver and manually push the cartridge follower out of engagement with the cartridge carrier. The inconvenience and discomfort inherent in such an operation render the above manner of releasing the cartridge carrier and bolt assembly undesirable.

This invention relates to a convenient and easily accessible release mechanism for use in the above-described type of firearm which release is utilized to disengage the cartridge follower from the cartridge carrier, and thereby free the latter and the bolt assembly for further movement. The release mechanism of this invention is movably mounted on the receiver to engage the cartridge follower when the magazine is empty of cartridges, and is readily accessible from the exterior of the firearm thus obviating the necessity of inserting ones finger into the receiver to accomplish the releasing operation. Furthermore, in accordance with this invention, the release mechanism is based by a spring, or the like, in a direction opposite the direction of bias of the spring-biased cartridge follower thereby providing means for storing some of the force exerted on the cartridge follower by its spring. The amount of force which must be manually exerted against the release mechanism to disengage the cartridge follower and the cartridge carrier is thus reduced by an amount equal to the stored amount.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide readily accessible manually actuated release means on a semi-automatic firearm to unlatch the cartridge carrier and the bolt assembly after the last shot has been fired.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cartridge carrier and bolt assembly release means wherein a portion of the force of the cartridge carrier and bolt assembly latch is stored by the release means.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded view of the release of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmental side sectional view of a semi-automatic shotgun showing the release of this invention mounted on the receiver and showing the cartridge carrier in the cartridge-receiving position;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmental side sectional view similar to FIGURE 1, showing the cartridge carrier in the cartridge-feeding position;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmental side sectional view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the cartridge carrier latched in the cartridge-receiving position and showing the release of this invention in engagement with the latching means;

FIGURE 6 is a side sectional view of the release of this invention showing, in phantom, the unlatching movement of the release;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmental side sectional view of another embodiment of latching means which may be used in conjunction with the release of this invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a fragmental side sectional view of yet a third embodiment of latching means which may be used in conjunction with the release of this invention.

Referring more particularly now to FIGURE 1, the release of this invention includes a slide member, indicated generally by the numeral 2, having a pair of laterally extending flanges 4 and 6 and having a longitudinally extending slot 8 between the flanges 4 and 6. An upwardly extending lug 10 is disposed at one end of the top surface of the slide 2. A downwardly extending lug 12 is formed at the same end of the bottom surface of the slide 2, the downwardly extending lug having a serrated finger-engaging face 14. A block 16 is disposed in the slide slot 8 and is held therein by means of a pin 18 which is disposed in transversely extending coaxial apertures 20 and 22 in the slide 2 and block 16 respectively. The block 16 includes a protuberance 24 on one end thereof to engage a first end of a compressible spring 26 which is disposed in the slot 8.

A tubular cartridge magazine 28 having a threaded end portion 30 is fitted with an internally threaded an-.

nular collar 32. The collar 32 and magazine 28 each include contiguous slots 34 and 36 respectively through which the release lug 10 extends. The collar 32 further includes a downwardly dependent portion 38 which extends into the slide slot 8 and which includes a protuberance 40 on one face thereof to engage the second end of the spring 26.

FIGURES 2 and 3 disclose the slide member 2 as mounted in the receiver 42, there being a T-shaped slot 44 cut into the bottom surface of the receiver 42 to slidably engage the flanges 4 and 6 of the slide member 2. As shown in FIGURE 2, the slide 2 is biased into a nonlatoh-engaging position by the compressible spring 26,

with the upwardly extending slide lug being disposed within the collar slot 34 and the magazine slot 36.

The trigger assembly disclosed herein forms no part of this invention but is outlined to provide an adequate background for an understanding of the invention. The trigger assembly 46 includes a trigger 48, hammer 50, sear means (not shown), a hammer spring 52, and other well-known conventional components of a trigger assembly. A bolt assembly 54 having a firing pin and extractor means is mounted for sliding reciprocal movc ment in the receiver 42 and is actuated by slide arms 56 connected to the bolt assembly through a bolt carrier plate 58. The slide arms 56 are actuated in a known manner by a gas-operated piston (not shown) disposed in the forward portion of the magazine 28.

A cartridge carrier 60 is mounted in the receiver 42 for pivotal movement about a pin 62. The cartridge carrier 60 includes a tray portion 64 for the reception of individual cartridges from the open end of the magazine 28. The cartridgek carrier 60 further includes a pair of bifurcated support arms 68 which engage the pivot pin 62. Linking means in the form of a pawl 70 is pivotally affixed to one of the support arms 68 by means of a pin 72, the pawl 70 normally being urged by a spring-biased plunger 74 into engagement with a lug 76 on the support arm 68 which limits the extent of forward pivotal movement of the pawl 70. The pawl 70 serves to link the cartridge carrier 60 to the bolt assembly 54 in a manner disclosed hereinafter.

FIGURE 2 shows the bolt assembly 54 in the breechclosed position with a cartridge 78 in a firing chamber 80. The carrier tray 64 is in the cartridge-receiving position wherein a cartridge 79 can be ejected from the magazine 28 onto the carrier tray 64. The cartridge 79 is biased toward the carrier tray 64 by means of a spring-loaded cartridge follower 82 (see FIGURE 4) disposed slidably within the magazine 28. A pair of resilient sequentially operated cutoffs 84 (only one of which is shown) are mounted in the receiver 42 for engagement with the cartridge 79 to sequentially feed a cartridge from the magazine to the cartridge carrier as disclosed in US. Patent 3,165,849. As shown in FIGURE 2, when the cartridge 79 is in the magazine 28, the release lug 10 is biased, by the release spring 26, into the collar slot 34 and the magazine slot 36 and extends into the magazine bore.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, the apparatus is shown after the cartridge 78 has been fired and ejected from the receiver. The bolt assembly 54 has been driven to a breech-open position at the rear of the receiver 42 by the slide arms 56, and the pawl 70 has been pivoted in a counterclockwise direction by the bolt assembly 54. The bolt assembly 54 has begun its forward movement in the receiver 42 and a tooth 86 on the pawl 70 is in engagement with the wall of a slot 88 formed in the bolt carrier plate 58. The cartridge 79 has been freed from the cutoffs 84 and has been pushed from the magazine 28 onto the carrier tray 6-4 by the cartridge follower 82. It is noted that the cartridge follower 82 includes a terminal flange 90- so that the cutofls 84 will act upon the cartridge follower 82 in the same way as they act upon a cartridge.

Forward movement of the bolt assembly 54 causes the pawl 70 to pivot about the pin 72 in a clockwise direction and at the same time a force is transmitted from the moving bolt assembly 54 through the pawl 70 and pin 72 to the cartridge carrier support arm 68 to which the pawl 70 is attached. This force causes the cartridge carrier to pivot in a counterclockwise direction about the pivot pin 62 thus moving the cartridge carrier tray 64 upwardly into a cartridge-feeding position shown in FIGURE 4. The cartridge 79 is thus moved into a position wherein it can be engaged by the forwardly moving bolt assembly and advanced into the firing chamber 80. Further forward movement of the bolt assembly 54 from the position shown in FIGURE 4, and the resulting pivotal movement of the pawl 70, causes the pawl tooth 86 to become disengaged from the bolt carrier plate slot 88 thereby terminating the pivotal force imposed on the cartridge carrier. Thus as the cartridge 79 is engaged by the advancing bolt assembly 54, the cartridge carrier 60 pivots in a clockwise direction back to the cartridgereceiving position. It is noted that the cartridge follower 82 is engaged at this point by the cutoffs 84 thus providing clearance for the cartridge carrier to pivot back to the cartridge-receiving position. When the cartridge carrier 60 has thus returned to the cartridgereceiving position, the release lug 10 is still biased by the release spring 26 into the collar slot 34 and the magazine slot 36 to lie within the bore of the magazine 28, and a radially extending shoulder 92 on the cartridge follower 82 has been advanced to a point within the magazine bore adjacent to the release lug 10.

Referring now to FIGURE 5, the apparatus is shown after the cartridge 79 has been fired and ejected from the receiver 42. The bolt assembly 54 has been moved to the breech-open position, has engaged the tooth 86 on the pawl 70, and has begun to return to the breech-closed position. Rearward movement of the slide arms 56 has deflected the cutoffs 84 out of engagement wit-h the flange 99 on the cartridge follower 82 to permit the latter to move to the left into the receiver 42 under the influence of a spring 94 disposed within the magazine 28. The cartridge follower 82 thus moves to a point within the receiver which lies in the path of the upwardly pivoting cartridge carrier 60. At the same time, the shoulder 92 on the cartridge follower 82 is brought into engagement with the release lug 10 causing the slide member 2 to move to the left against the bias of the release spring 26. The release spring 26 thus stores some of the force exerted on the cartridge follower 82 by the spring 94.

As the bolt assembly 54 begins to move toward the breech-closed position, the pawl 70 is again pivoted in a clockwise direction and the cartridge carrier 60 is urged to pivot in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 62. As the cartridge carrier tray 64 moves upwardly toward the cartridge-feeding position, the tip of the tray 64 moves into latching engagement with the flange on the cartridge follower 82. The cartridge carrier 60 is thus prevented from pivoting further and the pawl 70 is restrained from pivoting out of engagement with the bolt carrier plate 58 with the result that the bolt assembly 54 is detained in the breech-open position, as shown in FIGURE 5.

To release the cartridge carrier tray 64 from engagement with the cartridge follower 82, the slide member 2 is manually pushed to the right (to the position shown in phantom in FIGURE 6) thereby causing the cartridge follower 82 to move to the right (to the position shown in phantom in FIGURE 6) out of engagement with the tray 64.

FIGURES 7 and 8 disclose modified embodiments of the invention. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 7, a protuberance 96 is formed on the end face of the cartridge follower 82 which protuberance 96 latches the tip of the cartridge carrier tray 64 to restrain the latter from pivoting.

In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 8, the slide member 2 has an extended portion 98 which, upon engagement between the slide 2 and the cartridge follower 82 after the last cartridge 79 has been fired, is moved to the left to latch the tip of the cartridge carrier tray 64 to prevent the latter from pivoting.

It is thus apparent that the invenion provides a release which can be operated manually after the last shot is fired to free the cartridge carrier and the bolt assembly of a semi-automatic firearm for further movement without requiring the insertion of a finger into the receive-r of the firearm. Furthermore, the release is so constructed as to store some of the impelling force of the latching means thereby lowering the amount of pressure one need apply to the release means to free the latching means from engagement with the cartridge carrier. The invention thus eliminates the chance of bruising ones finger or catching it in the action of the firearm when releasing the cartridge carrier and bolt assembly after the last round has been fired.

What is claimed is:

1. In a fire arm having a receiver, a cartridge carrier mounted in the receiver for pivotal movement between a cartridge-receiving position and a cartridge-feeding position, a bolt assembly mounted within the receiver for reciprocating movement and operable to flip the cartridge carrier from the cartridge-receiving position to the cartridge-feeding position, a tubular magazine, a cartridge follower biased by a spring in the magazine, and wherein the cartridge follower engages the cartridge carrier to latch the latter in the cartridge-receiving position and thereby latch the bolt assembly in a breech-open position after the last cartridge has been fired, the improvement comprising:

(a) release means movably connected to said receiver to engage said cartridge follower when the latter engages said cartridge carrier, said release means being manually operable to move said cartridge follower against the bias of said spring thereby disengaging said cartridge follower from said cartridge carrier to free the latter for further movement to said cartridgefeeding position and to free said bolt assembly for movement to a breech-closed position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising elastic means connected to said release means to bias the latter toward said cartridge follower, said elastic means storing a portion of the force exerted by said spring on the cartridge follower when the latter engages said cartridge carrier, thereby lowering the quantum of force required to be manually applied to said release means to move said cartridge follower.

3. In a firearm having a receiver, a cartridge carrier mounted in the receiver for pivotal movement between a cartridge-receiving position and a cartridge-feeding position, a bolt assembly mounted within the receiver for reciprocating movement and operable to flip the cartridge carrier from the cartridge-receiving position to the cartridge-feeding position, a tubular magazine, and a cartridge follower biased by a spring in the magazine, the improvement comprising:

(a) latching means operable by said cartridge follower after a last cartridge in the firearm has been fired to engage and detain said cartridge carrier in said cartridge-receiving position; and

(b) release means movably connected to said receiver to engage said cartridge follower when the latter has activated said latching means, said release means being manually operable to move said cartridge follower against the bias of said spring thereby disengaging said latching means from said cartridge carrier to free the latter for further movement.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising elastic means connected to said release means to bias the latter toward said cartridge follower, said elastic means storing a portion of the force exerted by said spring on said cartridge follower when the latter has activated said latching means, thereby lowering the quantum of force required to be manually applied to said release means to move said cartridige follower.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said latching means comprises an extended portion formed on said release means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 690,955 1/1902 Horne 42-21 2,278,589 4/1942 Rutherford 4217 2,765,557 10/ 1956 Roper 4217 3,172,222 3/1965 Vartanian 42-21 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner. 

